The TU-B Mantis Shrimp, named for the Caribbean island’s ferocious peacock mantis shrimp (pictured), won their first-ever game in the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Roy L. Caldwell, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley)
The Tiperon University-Blacktip Fightin’ Mantis Shrimp earned their first appearance in the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament Wednesday with a 67-65 play-in game win over the heavily-favored Eastern Florida Community College Fire Ants.
“Folks didn’t give us much of a chance, but this team proved everybody wrong,” Mantis Shrimp head coach Jack Mackrell said. “These guys ignored the naysayers, took care of business on the court and made Blacktip proud. It was rough going in the first half, and we got in foul trouble early, but they gutted it out.
“I understand the doubters,” Mackrell said. “With only 12 students at TU-B, we were doing good to field a team, frankly. To shake off the first-half jitters, I gambled a bit and switched from the zone defense EFCC had sussed to man-to-man. From there, we took it to them. Never been so proud of these boys.”
Blacktip Island residents were ecstatic with the win.
“All week we’d been hearing about how TU-B didn’t belong in the same time zone as the tournament,” Rosie Blenny said. “Well, we showed them. David just whomped, well, another David, but we can beat any team in this tourney when we play to our potential. Lots of folks eating crow today. Or should I say, ‘Ants’?”
The Mantis Shrimp were paced by the three-point shooting of the Bottoms twins.
“Me and Spanky couldn’t miss in the second half,” guard Fatty Bottoms said. “East Florida jammed us in the paint, so we’d kick the ball back outside and started draining treys left and right. Then, when they started double-teaming us outside the arc, we pounded it inside to Rusty Goby and let him crash the boards.”
“Next thing we knew, we were on a 16-1 run and the Fire Ants players were hanging their heads,” Spanky Bottoms said. “Folks wrote us off? We feed on that. We’re Cinderella, and enjoying every minute of this. And we’ll keep on dancing tonight.”
The EFCC head coach praised the Mantis Shrimp.
“Hats off to them. They made the adjustment and we didn’t,” coach Danny Hamlet said. “Nothing worse than getting knocked out in the play-in. Well, actually, there’s lots of worse things, but this’s still damn disappointing.”
Rosie Blenny organized an impromptu watch party for tonight’s first-round game.
“We’re all getting together at the Sand Spit Bar to cheer on the Shrimp,” she said. “We’re not settling for a one-and-done. Two more wins and we’re in the Sweet 16!”
The Mantis Shrimp, in only their second season fielding an NCAA team, swept the Western Caribbean Athletic Conference tournament to secure their spot in the play-in game. Their next game will be tonight at 7 p.m. against one-seed University of Houston.
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